Examination timetabling at the University of Cape Town: a tabu search approach to automation

With the rise of schedules and scheduling problems, solutions proposed in literature have expanded yet the disconnect between research and reality remains. The University of Cape Town's (UCT) Examinations Office currently produces their schedules manually with software relegated to error-checking status. While they have requested automation, this study is the first attempt to integrate optimisation techniques into the examination timetabling process. Tabu search and Nelder-Mead methodologies were tested on the UCT November 2014 examination timetabling data with tabu search proving to be more effective, capable of producing feasible solutions from randomised initial solutions. To make this research more accessible, a user-friendly app was developed which showcased the optimisation techniques in a more digestible format. The app includes data cleaning specific to UCT's data management system and was presented to the UCT Examinations Office where they expressed support for further development: in its current form, the app would be used as a secondary tool after an initial solution has been manually obtained

Auto-Time Table Automation Tool using Genetic Algorithm

Time Table Computerization Tool is utilized for all educational pitch. The process includes two client features, the institution head and staff individuals. Institution head has all the rights to control and change the given information. All office accessible in the institution will be kept up through division's module. Administrator can pick any staff individual from the necessary office and can allocateto a prescribed class. During allocation the procedure followed with respective subjects in the institution for first, second, third, final year and so. Staff must be browsed with the necessary division. Administrator picks relating staff for their respective subjects and ration them. After staff dispersal, their time table will be shaped by the administrator which can be perceived by the staff individuals. Staff will have separate login framework, where they can login and can perceive their time tables. For other years same criteria will be followed in order to distribute the subjects among staff evenly. The Auto timetable schedule feature automates class, exam, and course forecast process for students, teachers, and different classrooms by taking into consideration all the possible. Furthermore, the timetable software integrates user-centric and simple-to-use tools to for educators to view, organize, and generate master and individual timetables for each teacher/ class/grade, develop personalized timetables, create and pin to-do lists, schedule substitute replacements for absent staff, manage and organize events on calendar, and much more on smartphone, tablet and computer devices

An Evolutionary Algorithm for Solving Academic Courses Timetable Scheduling Problem

جدولة أوقات الدروس في الأقسام الكبيرة في الجامعات تعتبر مشكلة صعبة للغاية وغالبًا ما يتم حلها من قبل الموظفين على الرغم من أن النتائج مثالية بشكل جزئي. لقد حدت للغاية مشكلة جدولة الوقت من مشكلة التحسين التوافقي، يهدف هذا العمل تطبيق مبدأ الخوارزمية التطورية باستخدام النظريات الوراثية لحل مشكلة الجدولة الزمنية في محاولة الحصول على جدول زمني عشوائي ومثالي مع القدرة على إنشاء جدول زمني متعدد الاحتمالات ومثالي بشكل كامل لكل مرحلة دراسية في القسم المعني وبما يتلاءم مع القيود التي يفرضها الطلبة والكادر التدريسي وضمن ساعات عمل محددة مسبقا. تتمثل الفكرة الرئيسية في امكانية إنشاء جداول زمنية للدروس بطريقة تلقائية بعد تحديد الشروط المجدية للحصول على جدول زمني مرن ومثالي بدون تكرار من خلال تقديم جدول زمني قابل للتبديل والتدوير. تكمن المساهمة الرئيسية في هذا العمل من خلال زيادة مرونة توليد جداول زمنية مثالية بنسخ مختلفة من خلال زيادة احتمال إعطاء أفضل جدول زمني لكل مرحلة في الحرم الجامعي مع القدرة على استبدال الجدول الزمني عند الحاجة. الخوارزمية التطورية (EA) المستخدمة في هذه الورقة هي الخوارزمية الجينية (GA) التي هي عبارة عن بحث متعدد الحلول يعتمد على عدد المجتمع التطوري الذي يمكن تطبيقه لحل مشاكل معقدة مثل مشاكل الجدول الزمني. في هذا العمل، جميع المدخلات: الدروس والكادر التدريسي والوقت قد تمثلت بمجموعة واحدة لتحقيق البحث المحلي ودمج هذا التمثيل للجدول الزمني باستخدام التبادل الموجه لضمان عدم خرق الشروط الأساسية التي تم تحديدها مسبقا كدالة تطابق. قدمت النتائج نظام جدولة مرن حيث اظهرت نتائج الاختبار تنوع جميع الجداول الزمنية الممكنة التي يمكن إنشاؤها بما يتلاءم مع شروط المستخدم وحاجاته.Scheduling Timetables for courses in the big departments in the universities is a very hard problem and is often be solved by many previous works although results are partially optimal. This work implements the principle of an evolutionary algorithm by using genetic theories to solve the timetabling problem to get a random and full optimal timetable with the ability to generate a multi-solution timetable for each stage in the collage. The major idea is to generate course timetables automatically while discovering the area of constraints to get an optimal and flexible schedule with no redundancy through the change of a viable course timetable. The main contribution in this work is indicated by increasing the flexibility of generating optimal timetable schedules with different copies by increasing the probability of giving the best schedule for each stage in the campus with the ability to replace the timetable when needed. The Evolutionary Algorithm (EA) utilized in this paper is the Genetic Algorithm (GA) which is a common multi-solution metaheuristic search based on the evolutionary population that can be applied to solve complex combinatorial problems like timetabling problems. In this work, all inputs: courses, teachers, and time acted by one array to achieve local search and combined this acting of the timetable by using the heuristic crossover to ensure that the essential conditions are not broken. The result of this work is a flexible scheduling system, which shows the diversity of all possible timetables that can be created depending on user conditions and needs

Timetabling System for Medical Officer

The idea was proposed due to the issues that Medical Officer face which is unorganized and unstructured duty roster management. Thus, inspired by Prototyping – based methodology, Timetabling System for Medical officer was developed. This research studied about the scheduling algorithm, tools and knowledge required for system development and the development process involved. Feasibility study was carried out to ensure the timetabling system can be develop within scope, time and constrains. Beside the main constrains, other minor constrains such as cultural, technical and operational was included. Methodology analysis is carried out in order to choose the suitable methodology to develop the system. The prototype architecture is shown in the result and discussion. At the end of the report, few recommendations were listed for the betterment of the system. Besides that, it also can be used as the reference for the custodian to understand the current status of the project

Term-End Exam Scheduling at United States Military Academy/West Point

Scheduling term-end exams (TEE) at the United States Military Academy in West Point is unlike any other exam timetabling problem we know of. Exam timetabling normally produces a conflict-free timetable covering a reasonably long exam period, where every exam is scheduled exactly once for all the students enrolled in the corresponding class. The situation is quite different at West Point. There are hundreds of exams to schedule over such a short time period that there is simply no feasible solution. The challenge is then to allow something that is not even considered elsewhere, that is, creating multiple sessions of some exams, scheduled at different times within the exam period, to allow each student to take all exams he/she must take. The overall objective is to find a feasible exam schedule with a minimum number of such duplicate exams. The paper describes a system that has been developed at GAMS Development Corp. in close cooperation with the scheduling staff at West Point, and that has been used successfully since 2001. It uses mathematical optimization in several modules, and some of the techniques proposed are new. It is fast and flexible, and allows for human interaction, such as adding initially unexpected constraints, coming for instance from instructors’ preferences and dislikes, as well as their hierarchical rankings. It is robust and can be used by people familiar with the organization at West Point, without the need for them to be technically-trained. Overall, using the course and student information databases, it is an effective decision support system that calls optimization tools in an unobtrusive way

Is Evolutionary Computation evolving fast enough?

Evolutionary Computation (EC) has been an active research area for over 60 years, yet its commercial/home uptake has not been as prolific as we might have expected. By way of comparison, technologies such as 3D printing, which was introduced about 35 years ago, has seen much wider uptake, to the extent that it is now available to home users and is routinely used in manufacturing. Other technologies, such as immersive reality and artificial intelligence have also seen commercial uptake and acceptance by the general public. In this paper we provide a brief history of EC, recognizing the significant contributions that have been made by its pioneers. We focus on two methodologies (Genetic Programming and Hyper-heuristics), which have been proposed as being suitable for automated software development, and question why they are not used more widely by those outside of the academic community. We suggest that different research strands need to be brought together into one framework before wider uptake is possible. We hope that this position paper will serve as a catalyst for automated software development that is used on a daily basis by both companies and home users

Practices in timetabling in higher education institutions:A systematic review

The study of differences between timetabling research presented in conferences like PATAT or published in Annals of OR and commercial timetabling software used in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) is essential for the discussion about innovation in both higher education and in commerce. In the field of planning and scheduling, a lot of developments are made and it is important to recognise that these developments are of influence on HEIs through their use of timetabling software. A main objective of the work presented here is to provide up-to-date information about timetabling in HEIs and see to what extent they adopt and implement timetabling developments. This is crucial because of budgets of institutions being strictly limited and remaining resources like rooms having to be shared more and more. Developments in HEIs have caused planning processes in higher education to deal with more limitations than ever, while at the same time the demand towards flexibility and availability is increasing. This paper gives the results of a systematic literature review in which differences and similarities in theory and practice of timetabling in higher education are described and discussed. We looked at state-of-the-art timetabling research for HEIs, at innovations in the field of timetabling and at changing requirements in Higher Education. The aim of this paper is to motivate the discussion about both the differences and similarities and bring timetabling application development closer to educational requirements